Webster: The need for a carbon tax

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MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

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Posted Mar. 25, 2014 at 11:21 PM

Posted Mar. 25, 2014 at 11:21 PM

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Sumner Weisman in his letter to the editor ("Support for a climate change skeptic," March 18) voiced support for an opinion piece by Mathew Hurwitz regarding climate change. Mr. Weisman concludes by questioning the authority of politicians who are working to address this potentially catastrophic problem because they are not scientists. Well, let's look at what the actual scientists are telling us.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the latest scientific organization to speak out about the dire risks we face if we do not act. Its new report, "What We Know," authored by the organization's Climate Science Panel, spells out the scientific realities in concise layman's language. The authors remind us that the overwhelming majority - 97 percent - of climate scientists agree that humans are changing the climate. I'll go along with those sorts of odds any day. The paper goes on to explain what the scientists know. In a nutshell, climate change is already happening and it will only get worse. We would be reckless to deny the science.

Senator Markey and other legislators may be "only politicians," but they are the folks who can address this threat. One way to start would be to enact a carbon tax that would utilize economic incentives to reduce emissions and avoid the worst.